Newsom not chicken -- he'll host a second town hall meeting, in Bayview

Chronicle Staff Report

Published
4:00 am PST, Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Apparently not scared off by the six people in chicken costumes who showed up to his first town hall meeting earlier this month, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's office announced Tuesday that the mayor will hold a second town hall meeting Feb. 10 in Bayview-Hunters Point.

The town hall meetings are Newsom's response to Proposition I, an advisory measure approved by voters in November that urged the mayor to appear monthly before the Board of Supervisors and answer questions.

Newsom said that the "question time" would amount to political theater and that more would be achieved with town hall meetings in the community on preset topics. The first one, on Jan. 13 in the Richmond District, focused on homelessness. Protesters turned up in furry yellow costumes to make the point that they considered Newsom "chicken" for not appearing before the supervisors.

Ted Strawser, a member of the political advocacy group San Francisco Party Party, which often opposes Newsom's policies, came dressed as a chicken to the first town hall meeting and said he and the other protesters will attend the next one.

"There's an army of people who want to be chickens now," he said. "We will definitely do something -- you can count on that."